Written by new-contact on Jul 16, 2014. Posted in Production News

Detective drama Hinterland praised for bringing EU filming funds to Wales

Detective series Hinterland has been praised by Welsh assembly members for bringing more European Union (EU) funds to Wales. The show is set in Aberystwyth on the Welsh coast and filmed in both English and Welsh, with around 15% of the total budget coming from the EU.

Production company Fiction Factory told the Welsh assembly’s enterprise and business committee that EU funding was vital to the production as the full budget wasn’t available from BBC Wales or S4C, the Welsh-language TV broadcaster, the BBC reports.

“There's a lot of competition for this money, which is a finite amount, but we couldn't have done it without it,” series producer Gethin Scourfield told the assembly, according to the BBC: “The paperwork is hard, and it doesn't get better for the second series – you have to put the work in. But we had help from Judy Wasdell of MEDIA Antenna Wales [with the application], who knows the ins and outs.”

The EU’s MEDIA programme is designed to help boost “cultural identity and heritage” across Europe and to facilitate the distribution of audiovisual works both in the EU and around the world.

Wales is already a popular international filming location and is home to the BBC’s flagship drama Doctor Who, as well as the family series Atlantis. International fantasy drama Da Vinci’s Demons will shortly start filming its third season around Swansea, doubling the area for Renaissance Italy.

Pinewood Studios recently made a deal to administer the Welsh government’s Media Investment Budget, and will also be opening a TV facility in Cardiff.

(Images: BBC)